Sydney smoke: air quality among worst in world due to hazard-reduction burns

The Sydney Harbour Bridge shrouded in smoke. Hazard-reduction burns have impacted the city all week. Photograph: Steve Christo/AFP/Getty Images

A haze of smoke has settled across Sydney for another day, accumulating after a week of hazard-reduction burns ahead of the weekend, when temperatures are forecast to hit 30C.

Much of Sydney was blanketed in smoke early on Thursday morning with poor or very poor air quality in suburbs including Alexandria, Earlwood, Lidcombe, Randwick, Rozelle, Prospect, Rouse Hill, Bringelly and Oakdale.